Air New Zealand received and unveiled its first Boeing 777-300ER on Wednesday in Seattle, claiming it has redefined air travel by including "beds" for economy passengers among a string of industry firsts on the aircraft.

Air Austral took delivery of one new 737-800NG from Boeing, the first of two it ordered to replace one 737-300 and one 737-500 in its fleet. Veling purchased four 777-200ERs from Emirates for leaseback. The Mauritius-based aircraft leasing company purchased two 777s from Emirates in February. Alitalia announced ittook delivery of three new A320s, bringing its total operating fleet to 150 aircraft.

Airbus said Tuesday that LAN Airlines finalized a previously-announced order for 50 new A320 family aircraft. The order was initially announced as an MOU at the Farnborough International Airshow in July (ATW Daily News, July 21). It represents the largest single airline order for Airbus in Latin America and brings LAN's total Airbus orders to 152 aircraft.

Boeing said Monday it will boost the 777 production rate to 8.3 per month in the first quarter of 2013, the second 777 production increase the manufacturer has announced this year.

Delta Air Lines announced it will expand the first-class cabin on approximately 350 aircraft, adding 1,200 Weber Aircraft first-class seats to domestic MD-88, MD-90, Boeing 757-200 and 767-300 aircraft by summer 2013, in response to business customers' requests for more premium cabin seating.

GECAS delivered one new Airbus A320 to Indian carrier IndiGo Airlines. IndiGo currently operates a fleet of 31 A320s. Norwegian Air Shuttle took delivery of its first 737-800 with the new Boeing Sky Interior. TUIfly took delivery of its first 737-800 with the new Boeing Sky Interior.

Spirit AeroSystems said it shipped the first production leading edge spar component–an outer spar–for the Airbus A350 XWB program out of its Kinston, N.C., facility. The remaining five spar sections will be shipped in the coming months, it announced. Each set of spars will be shipped to Spirit's European plant in Prestwick, Scotland, where it will be integrated into the fixed leading edge. From there, it will be delivered to the Airbus plant in Broughton, Wales, for integration into the wing box.

US Aerospace Industries Assn. expects US aerospace sales to rise 1.3% next year to $219.2 billion, surpassing the record $216.5 billion estimate for this year. Civil aircraft sales fell nearly 6% in 2010, however, to $48.2 billion but are expected to rebound to $50.2 billion in 2011, although that is still below the 2009 level of $51.1 billion and the 2007 level of $52.6 billion.